Photoshop Elements 3 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide

Changing the Look

of Your Type

You should be comfortable using the type for-

matting tools in Photoshop Elements because

they’re very similar to those found in most

any word processing program, including the

font family, font style, and font size. The first

thing you’ll probably want to do is change the

font size. Photoshop Elements’ type tool is

automatically set to 12 or 14 points, which in

many cases will be too small. Making the type

bigger makes it much easier for you to see

how the type looks in your image. You can

also change the text alignment and text color.

All of these options are available on the text

options bar (Figure 9.12).

To change any of these attributes, you first

need to select the text characters you want

to change. Most of the time, you’ll want to

select and apply changes to an entire line of

text, but you can also select individual words

or even individual characters.

To select text:

1.

Click on the type layer you want to edit

on the Layers palette, or click on the type

itself with the Move tool.

2.

Select a type tool.

3.

To select the text, drag across the charac-

ters to highlight them (Figure 9.13), or

do one of the following:

▲

Double-click within a word to select it

(Figure 9.14).

▲

Triple-click to select an entire line of

text (Fi gure 9.15).

✔ Tip

■

You can select all of the text on a layer

without even touching the text with your

pointer. Just select the type layer on the

Layers palette and double-click the T icon.

Figure 9.15 Triple-click anywhere in a line of type to

select the entire line.

Figure 9.14 Double-click within a word to select it.

Figure 9.13 To select your text, drag across it with the

text pointer.

Figure 9.12 The type formatting tools are all available

on the text options bar.

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Chapter 9

Changing the Look of Your Type

Figure 9.19 Press the Up

and Down Arrow keys on

your keyboard to scroll

through all of the fonts

on the menu. Your type

will change appearance

as the font list scrolls.

Figure 9.18 If a font doesn’t

include style options, you

can apply a bold or italic

format with the icons on the

options bar.

Figure 9.17 Many fonts allow you to select a

style from the font style menu.

Figure 9.16 All available fonts are

listed on the font family menu.

To choose the font family and style:

1.

Select the text you want to change.

2.

From the options bar, choose a font from

the font family menu (Figure 9.16).

3.

Still on the options bar, choose a style

from the font style menu (Figure 9.17).

If the font family you selected doesn’t

happen to include a particular style, you

can click the Faux Bold or Faux Italic but-

ton to change the look of your text

(Figure 9.18).

✔ Tip

■

If you haven’t memorized the look of each

and every font on your computer (and

who has?), there’s an easy way to view

examples and choose the font. First select

your text; then, on the options bar, click

directly in the font family box. The cur-

rent font name will appear highlighted.

Now you can use the Up and Down

Arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll

through all of the fonts. As you scroll

through the list, your text automatically

changes to the selected font (this little

technique works with styles and sizes,

too) (Figure 9.19).

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Working with Type

Changing the Look of Your Type

To change the font size:

1.

Select the text you want to change.

2.

Choose a size from the type size menu on

the options bar (Figure 9.20).

To change to a type size not listed on the

menu, just enter a new value in the type

size text box. The default type measure-

ment is set to points, but you can also use

other units of measure (pixels or millime-

ters) by selecting them in the Preferences

dialog box.

✔ Tips

■

You can quickly adjust the type size up

and down with keyboard shortcuts. Just

select your text and then press Ctrl+Shift+.

(period)/Command+Shift+. (period) to

increase the size in 2-point increments.

To reduce the size of the text, press Ctrl+

Shift+, (comma)/Command+Shift+,

(comma) (Figure 9.21).

■

To change the default unit of measure-

ment for type, select Edit > Preferences >

Units and Rulers (Windows) or Photoshop

Elements > Preferences > Units and Rulers

(Mac OS) (Figure 9.22). Here you can

select among pixels, points, and millime-

ters (mm) (Figure 9.23).

Figure 9.23 You can set type unit pref-

erences to pixels, points, or millimeters.

Figure 9.21 To fine-tune your type size, press

Ctrl+Shift+. (period)/Command+Shift+. (period)

to increase the size in 2-point increments. Press

Ctrl+Shift+, (comma)/Command+Shift+,

(comma) to reduce the font size by 2 points.

48 p

t

50 p

t

52

pt

Figure 9.20 Use the type size

menu to adjust the size of your

type. To use a size not listed,

just enter it in the text box.

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Changing the Look of Your Type

Figure 9.22 In Mac OS, Preferences is found on the

Photoshop Elements menu on the main menu bar.